Some of you might know that when I’m not working as creative director at Collective Bias, entertaining wife, kids, & dogs, or hiding in the woods, I’m working with the Social Media Club, Northwest Arkansas chapter. Yes, even my hobbies include social media… it’s an addiction, I know. This little volunteer job allows me the opportunity to network and hang out with some of the more entertaining people in my area as well as make valuable business connections and grow the impact of social media all over Northwest Arkansas. Recently I’ve had the honor of being included in two other local networking groups of equally motivated and fun people.
First was the MACC Initiative (Mothers & Companies Cooperating), led by Autumn Manning. The group is comprised of an impressive group of women who have made it their goal to excel both professionally and at home. Through sponsorships they’ve recently become officially non-profit and their numbers and influence are growing daily.
The second group is the Network Community of Northwest Arkansas. The group, led by Michael Mollitor meets monthly to network and welcome professional newcomers to the area. Michael told me that the group initially was started to fill a the void that most transplants to the area feel upon moving across the country to work near the “Big Three.” Their membership is large and they hold monthly meetings that see a fair number in attendance.
My group, the Social Media Club, Northwest Arkansas (SMCNWA), is part of the larger international club that’s chapters are committed to growing social media professionally and personally all over the world. I’m director of membership and do all I can to keep up with our president, Kyle Judkins, and two other directors, Collin Condray and Tom Redwine in expanding this goal to our area. We’ve got a good number of club members and tend to see a fair turnout at all our meetings and tweetups.
Now for the fun part… In January, we’re combining efforts to link the groups together if only socially to further each of our causes. Venue and exact time and date are still being verified but we anticipate upwards of 150 people in attendance. I’m really looking forward to bringing the groups together and seeing what we can do together. If you’d like to be a part of the event, contact me or anyone listed in this post. Its going to be a great night of conversation at a area restaurant and we’ll get the details ironed out early so you can track down a sitter if needed.
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I know, we’ve been talking about it for a while but it’s finally done. After hours of editing and countless video clips, Collective Bias, GNO, and One to One Network bring you the 2009 Bowlher video.
In light of all of the hubbub around my new twitter image, I ask this question. Is your icon you or vice-versa? I like to see my image as an extension of myself. I think it’s important to show face on twitter to prove you’re real. I think it was Yale that discovered that those with professional/airbrushed images were considered pompous or not trustworthy to a sample-representative group and those without actual pictures tend to make people feel like they’re talking to the man. Not like “hey, you’re the man” but more like “the man is keeping us down.”
Let’s start with that statement. What do you mean by “doing” social media. Are you looking to engage with potential customers on a daily basis and build trust through conversation and lifestyle or do you just want to set up a facebook page for people to find? Have you searched for your customers through the various social media outlets? Do you even know the options available out there? The questions can tear apart the best of intentions… even to the greatest among us.
After almost a week I’m finally getting to this post on our latest Social Media Club meeting. For those that didn’t attend, we had Ed Nicholson of Tyson Foods philanthropic division speaking on his use of social media in the effort to eliminate hunger. The information overall was staggering. In Northwest Arkansas alone there are over 100,000 at risk of hunger and half a million in the state of Arkansas… and you thought there were only starving kids in Africa. The efforts that Ed and Tyson are making to reduce this number are impressive as well and all covered through their social media.
